Posted on 08/05/2005 8:32:23 AM PDT by SkyPilot
LOS ANGELES - Jury deliberations in Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial were allegedly tainted by shocking misconduct that included smuggling in videotaped Court TV shows and secretly communicating with the pop star's mother, the Daily News has learned. Author Stacy Brown revealed the stunning jury room shenanigans he heard from two jurors who consulted him for help with tell-all books they plan to write.
"From what I've heard, the whole trial was a waste of taxpayers' money and time. That jury would have acquitted him even if they had a videotape [of the alleged crime]," said Brown. Brown says the two jurors detailed a laundry list of misconduct during the pop star's trial, including:
Ray Hultman
A juror sneaked a forbidden video of Court TV broadcasts featuring the prosecution-friendly Diane Dimond and Nancy Grace into the jury room, but a faulty VCR prevented a sneak peek.
Juror Eleanor Cook says she smuggled a medical text into deliberations to show "Jackson fit the book's definition of a pedophile to a T." Other jurors later held it over her head to "intimidate" her into voting for acquittal, she says.
Eleanor Cook
Cook admits she frequently winked at Jackson's mother Katherine in court and "exchanged wardrobe tips" with the entertainer's mom, which resulted in them wearing the same colors on certain days. "She [Cook] intimated that she communicated with Katherine Jackson, in some manner, during the trial," said Brown.
A gang of three female jurors were such rabid Jackson fans that they cooed, "Not my Michael . . ." when the panel discussed the felony charges against the pop idol. Both Cook and juror Ray Hultman "said these three women formed a bond, and their minds were made up about one-third of the way through the trial," Brown said. Brown, a former Jackson family friend who co-authored "Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask" with the singer's ex-publicist Bob Jones, was asked by Cook and Hultman to help them write books about their time in the jury room.
Both Cook, 79, and Hultman, 62, say they now believe Jackson was guilty.
After talking to Cook and Hultman, Brown says their explanations for voting to acquit Jackson while believing he was guilty "just don't add up," and it's "very unlikely" he'll help either pen a book.
"If they really felt Michael Jackson was guilty, they had the opportunity to send that message with their vote," said Brown, "They could have hung the jury - if they really believed a pedophile was going back into their community. . . . I think they are trying to sell books."
Brown said he is especially suspicious of Cook's motives because she fervently supported the verdict immediately after the trial and ridiculed the accuser's mother for snapping her fingers at the jury. "Don't snap your fingers at me, lady!" the feisty grandmother declared in explaining why the panel didn't believe the boy's mom.
And since the verdict, Cook has chatted with Jackson's mother by phone, Brown said. Bringing the Court TV video and the medical book into deliberations were violations of court rules because only trial evidence is allowed in deliberations and jurors are barred from considering outside materials, especially media reports.
Brown said Judge Rodney Melville never found out about the medical book, but a bailiff reported the video incident. Still, the judge did not boot the rule-breaking jurors.
According to Cook, the jury was so pro-Jackson they would have acquitted him within minutes if she hadn't protested, Brown said. "Elly [Cook] claims there would have been no deliberation at all if she hadn't said she thought he was guilty," Brown said.
Hultman and another unidentified juror apparently joined Cook in an early vote, leaving the panel split 9-3 in favor of acquittal, Brown said.
He also said Hultman claims he ultimately went along with the "uneducated" majority because he didn't think he could persuade them to reconsider. Cook has said she was "intimidated" into joining the crowd. It's unclear what swayed the third juror.
The only people who MIGHT find this surprising is the MSM, but even then I think they knew the score. He wasn't getting convicted, no way, no how.
Idiots...
Ug, it gets even worse.
You said it. Everyone knew he was going to walk. What a joke California's legal system has become.
And the pervert walks to prey on the ussuspecting again and again. Sickening!
Sounds to me like the jurors themsevles were a little Wacko . . .
What a disgusting mess.
Time to prosecute 'em.
ussuspecting = unsuspecting
I don't know if I believe Cook after her performance after the verdict was read. I think she'll say whatever it takes to sell her book.
Note to Cook: I'm not buying your stinkin' book.
Does California seem to have more wackos per capital than any other state or what? Does the sun bake their brains or are more nutcases just attracted to the west coast?
Some jurors need to go to jail here.
It's too late to revisit the MJ verdict (which was always
in doubt due to the accuser's unclean hands), but there's
ample time to send a strong message to future juries.
And to think, people like this are allowed to vote.
No surprises here. This is The People's Democratic Republic of Kahleefoaneeah, after all.
Yes. In some cases, even after they're dead. ;)
Can anything be done about this now? Can a prosecutor go back and punish these jurors for malfeasance?
I suppose I alread know the answer, which is "no."
Jury trials - the American justice system nightmare. Trials decided by a group of people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
(Ok, I know that's not 100% true, some do it out of a sense of duty, but I'd say fully 75% of jurors don't want to be there, they're just too stupid to know how to get out of it).
Sure seems that way.
Maybe the large population, big media presence, and "flaky" Hollywood atmosphere mean we see so much of it.
Don't know - I never spent much time out west so I'll leave it to others to say . . .
It was pretty obvious during the post trial interview of the jurors that they weren't the sharpest pencils in the box. And that's being nice.
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